Westmorland Music Festival

The Mary Wakefield Westmorland Music Festival in Cumbria dates back to the mid 19th century.

It is open to choirs and individuals from towns, villages and schools in the old County of Westmorland or within a radius of twenty five miles from Kendal.

Founded in 1885, it one of the earliest competitive music festivals, and certainly the earliest to focus particularly on choral music. Many other festivals have been inspired by this example, and it continues to hold a very special place not just in the local area but nationally.

From its beginnings with competitions between small rural choirs, the programme has expanded to include workshop and presentation days for both Primary and Secondary schools, a comprehensive timetable of adjudicated classes for vocalists and instrumentalists of all age groups, and other events such as ‘Bring and Sing’ concerts which will be Mozart’s Requiem and the recently introduced Festival Showcase concert.

The Festival usually concludes with a major choral concert featuring a large scale work beyond the scope of any one choral society, bringing together singers from many local choral societies under the baton of an invited conductor.

The Festival still maintains its local entry qualification, and does not give money prizes. Many of the trophies carry the names of the families who gave them and several are nearly as old as the Festival itself.

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